The agency said so last week, when it presented four different revenue proposals — each, in its own way, aimed at extracting another $450 million a year from riders.

Monday, agency chief Joe Lhota suggested that his preference is to raise the base fare by a quarter to $2.50 — and keep a bonus for MetroCard purchases of more than $10, with nominal increases for seven- and 30-day unlimited-ride passes.

Said Lhota: “[If] the base fare doesn’t go up, it will have a huge impact on the people who take the monthly pass and use discounted fares. I think we should focus on the middle class.”

Sounds like the man’s been reading The Post.

After the plans were released last week, Manhattan Institute fellow Nicole Gelinas encouraged the MTA in these pages to pursue a plan giving straphangers the best bang for their buck.

Lhota will be excoriated for not resisting a fare increase of any sort — a Utopian notion that needs to be put to pasture with the unicorns and other fairy-dust dispensers.

Transit fares go in only one direction — up — and the challenge is to keep the hikes as low as practically possible.

So it’s worth noting that in his 10 months on the job, Lhota has trimmed discretionary costs and fringe benefits under management control — putting the agency on a path to savings of $1.13 billion by 2016 (nearly double the $686 million savings seen in 2011).

This allowed the MTA to restore service for several bus and subway lines eliminated two years ago in a budget crunch.

So why must fares increase?

Because the cost of employee pension and health-care programs — which Transport Workers Union Local 100 treats as a birthright — is growing beyond all reason.

To say nothing of justification.

Combine those costs with debt-service spending — responsibility for which traces back to the Pataki years — and the inevitability of fare hikes becomes apparent.

So when the protestors line up at the MTA’s upcoming public hearings on fare hikes, they might spend a little less energy yelling at Lhota, and a little more pondering how much they’ll be contributing to Local 100’s lush benefit plans.